Novartis: $590 Million Q3 Charge as Discontinues Drugs

Swiss drugmaker Novartis said it would take a charge of $590 million in the third quarter as it announced it was discontinuing two drugs in its pipeline. However, it added that the charge would be partially offset by an approximately $390 million gain to be booked in the fourth quarter from its divestment of overactive bladder treatment Enablex to Warner Chilcott, announced last month.

Novartis said in a statement it was stopping development of Mycograb (efungumab), an antifungal agent, resulting in a charge of about $360 million.

Novartis also said it and Human Genome Sciences had decided to stop development of albinterferon alfa-2b for the treatment of adults with chronic hepatitis C due to feedback from European and U.S. regulators as well as new study data.

That would result in a charge of about $230 million. The drug is known by its brand name Joulferon in Europe and Zalbin in the U.S.

It said both decisions reflected an "enhanced focus on differentiated medicines most likely to address unmet medical needs."